CERTIFIGATE

Sheriff Joe to Eric Holder: 'Prove it!'

Arpaio willing to go to federal court to vindicate his department

Jerome R. Corsi, a Harvard Ph.D., is a WND senior staff writer. He has authored many books, including No. 1 N.Y. Times best-sellers "The Obama Nation" and "Unfit for Command." Corsi's latest book is "Who Really Killed Kennedy?"

In the cover letter, Arpaio attorney Joseph J. Popolizio made it clear that the sheriff was willing to cooperate with Holder and the DOJ, but only if the DOJ revealed to the MCSO and the public its proof.

“Sheriff Joseph M. Arpaio and the MCSO are certainly interested in constructive dialogue, but constructive dialogue can only occur if the DOJ provides the facts and information on which it bases its findings,” Popolizio wrote.

Nothing more than a political attack?

Arpaio also took exception to the DOJ assertion that the federal investigation against his office began under the Bush administration.

“There may have been complaints filed with the Justice Department under the Bush administration,” Arpaio conceded, “but we were first notified in March 2009 – in the Obama administration’s first 100 days – that the Department of Justice had begun a formal investigation of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office.”

Arpaio pointed out that after three years of cooperating with the Justice Department investigation, his office was given only one-hour’s advance notice that the report was going to be released.